Glossary

What is Webhook?

Q: What are common misconceptions about Webhook?

Common misconceptions include: Webhooks always arrive and arrive once. Actually, webhooks can fail, arrive late, or arrive multiple times, requiring idempotent handling. Also, Webhooks are the same as APIs. Actually, webhooks push data to you while APIs require you to pull data..

An automated message sent from one application to another when a specific event occurs, enabling real-time data transfer and workflow triggers between systems.

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In Depth

Understanding the Details

Webhooks flip the traditional API pattern. Instead of constantly asking 'did anything happen?' (polling), webhooks notify you when something happens. When a customer makes a payment in Stripe, a webhook sends that event to your system immediately. Webhooks enable real-time automation, connecting systems that would otherwise require manual synchronisation or periodic batch jobs. They're the foundation of event-driven architecture, where actions in one system automatically trigger responses in others.

Examples

How It Works in Practice

Payment notification

Stripe sends a webhook to your application when a subscription payment succeeds, triggering automatic user provisioning.

Form submission trigger

A form tool sends a webhook to your automation platform when someone submits, starting an enrichment and routing workflow.

CRM event handling

HubSpot sends webhooks when deals change stage, triggering Slack notifications and task creation in project management tools.

Importance

Why It Matters

Real-time operations require real-time data. Webhooks eliminate polling delays, reduce unnecessary API calls, and enable immediate reactions to events across your tech stack.

Misconceptions

What People Often Get Wrong

Webhooks always arrive and arrive once. Actually, webhooks can fail, arrive late, or arrive multiple times, requiring idempotent handling.

Webhooks are the same as APIs. Actually, webhooks push data to you while APIs require you to pull data.

Webhook payload contains everything you need. Actually, webhooks often contain minimal data, requiring additional API calls for full context.

Our Approach

How We Handle Webhook

We build webhook handlers that process events reliably, handle delivery failures gracefully, and maintain idempotency so duplicate deliveries don't cause problems.